so you have a gunman on the ground on the loose. right. what are you doing on that score? we had started sending units out to see if anybody had seen anything, see if anybody heard any gunshots. see if anybody saw anybody matching the description of the suspect. and we were not able to find anything. reporter: the only forensic evidence douglas could find in the parking lot was the .25 caliber slug that grazed becky s legs. her shoes were still laying there. we found a spent shell casing, and then we had also found the actual projectile itself, right on the edge of the sidewalk. and you didn t find a tossed weapon in the vicinity? no, no weapons. reporter: the shooter had vanished without a trace. but you had more questions, didn t you? we did indeed. reporter: but those questions would be left for jimmy edmunds, whose investigation into kay parsons s murder had suddenly become a lot more complex. here i ve got two neighbors, you know, one has been beaten to
reporter: by now, jimmy edmunds had no shortage of leads to work in the pair of crimes he was trying to solve, the murder of kay parsons, and the shooting of her neighbor becky. and then, another new lead. a big one. i get a phone call from our jail. they have an inmate that is requesting to speak to me. so i pull mr. jacobs, jerry jacobs, out of his cell and take him to an interview room. you re jerry, right? is that what you go by? yeah. reporter: jerry jacobs was serving time for a misdemeanor parole violation. what s his story? he was pretty upset. jerry tells me that as he was in the jail he saw the news and he saw what happened to kay parsons. and at the time he looks at me and he says, i think i know who did it. and i said, really. tell me.
you know? stuff like that. reporter: now that was a shocker. investigators had had their eye on becky s other son michael from the get-go. i was surprised to hear it that way. i was surprised to hear that it was michael, really cause, you know, i ve been learning so many things about michael and and his past and all of that. you haven t had any discussions with michael about like you ve had with with christopher? not like with christopher, no. no. cause me and christopher are a little bit closer than me and michael. do you know if she ever talked to michael about it? no, i don t. have a seat right here. reporter: still, edmunds decided it was time to bring in michael for a second round of questioning. and this time, the investigator turned up the heat.
next door and commit another burglary? reporter: becky had been at work that morning with her 19-year old son christopher. the two of them raced home to the scene and met up with her older son michael. they re both there, so your mother and christopher are there? yeah, they pulled up together at the same time, with columbia county officer. we all walk around back to kay s house, and my mom, she sounds very distraught. she s she s screamin kay s name. she shows up at her house while you were all in the backyard there? right. they show up on scene and and they re, wondering what s going on, and they re they re pretty pretty shaken up. reporter: everyone else in becky s family was accounted for, her husband tony, a long haul trucker, was away on the road, her three younger children were fine at school and day care. the investigator said becky s focus then turned to kay. understandably she was upset. you know, she didn t know what happened to her neighbor. she just k
i m at work. and he says, okay, i m just trying to get in touch with kay. i m in california. reporter: first responders at the scene alerted investigator jimmy edmunds with the columbia county sheriff s office. it s very unusual to have have two houses side by side, you know, hit it one time that s, you know, that same way. reporter: so are you thinking, where s this guy gonna go next? correct. i m definitely thinking, where s he at? reporter: but as edmunds turned his attention to the break-ins at these two homes, he and his team discovered something ugly. she was in a pool of blood. reporter: this wasn t going to be a simple burglary. this was a violent attack with a bloody trail between the homes of two best friends and a female body lying in the garage. she was beaten so severely you couldn t even recognize her. reporter: what had happened on hot springs drive? and whose sanctuary was about to be violated next? a badly-injured victim in one house.